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Alex Lloyd
 Alex Lloyd was
introduced to music courtesy of his father's beat-up old guitar, and the
sessions father and son spent working their way through a Beatles songbook.
Alex tended to prefer the group's latter, more experimental stuff. But it
was Alex's Irish Catholic grandmother who first recognized the boy's talent
for music. After watching him perform in a production of the musical
'Oliver Twist' she encouraged him to join the choir at St Mary's Cathedral
in Sydney, a prestigious vocal group.
Tunics,
two hours of religious studies daily and the discipline which comes with
being in a choir took its toll and Alex quit to pick up a guitar instead.
His teenage years were spent playing at every opportunity - in the bedroom,
at parties, busking on the streets of Balmain. Eventually he came to notice
as lead singer of Sydney indie band Mother Hubbard. who were popular for
their live performances and achieved some degree of success on record.
In all
the bands he'd been in Alex had tended dominate, telling the other band
members what to do. After one Mother Hubbard album Alex had wanted to take
a major musical shift, towards more of a technology-based sound. The
members agreed to differ about the direction Alex wanted to take, leaving
the singer to record the songs he had written for the next album as a solo,
instead of a group album. It also allowed him to throw himself much deeper
into that technology than he might have if he'd still been recording with
Mother Hubbard. Instead of manipulating musicians to do his will, he was
manipulating machines. And to some extent the machines started manipulating
him. The more he worked on the songs the further he moved from the album he
had initially imagined.
 Demo sessions
started in early 1997 in tiny studios
around Sydney's inner west. He might spend a month on a song trying to come
of with the perfect balance between technology and traditional instruments
and having found that balance, then needing to start on a song all over
again. Then recording sessions proper began in early 1998, with Daniel
Denholm contributing string arrangements and good friend Trent Williamson
engineering and programming with Alex. Halfway through, Alex was invited to
attend Miles Copeland's legendary songwriting workshop at a medieval French
castle. He was in two minds about going. Halfway through his album he
didn't want to suddenly be swayed by other people's songwriting methods.
Despite his reservations he attended, and the experience showed him that
he'd been working on his own for too long, a year writing, and another year
recording. He decided to finish the album in Santa Monica California with
former Psychedelic Fur and now producer Ed Buller (Pulp, Suede).
This
third phase of the process wasn't easy. Alex Lloyd and Ed Butler took time
getting used to each other. There were massive arguments. Sometimes Alex
just had to let go and leave the studio to let Ed do his thing. Meanwhile,
friendships made in Hollywood culminated in the song 'Lucky Star', which
touches on the surreal lives of celebrities through the eyes of one who
feels more observer than participant.
The end
result of all of Alex's efforts was 'Black The Sun', an innovative highly
contemporary album, deftly balancing the songs with musical experimentation.
Alex supported the album with live performances, determined to display the
songs as songs rather than studio creations. A year after its release the
'Black As Sun' album was still raising eyebrows, still winning fans and
earned Alex Loyd a belated ARIA award for Best Male Artist on the basis of
one of the singles. In the end 'Black As Sun' sold in excess of 100,000
copies in Australia alone and enjoyed critical acclaim internationally.
Lloyd
considered producing the follow-up album himself, but a single conversation
with English producer Magnus Fiennes changed his mind. 'Watching Angels
Mend' was recorded over five months in London. The third album 'Distant
Light' was recorded relatively quickly at home in Sydney.
Alex
Lloyd took a break. He had married, became a father and was unsure whether
he wanted to continue in a music career. In that mood he severed his ties
with his management and record company, but also started writing new songs,
the songs which he recorded with famed Seattle producer Rick Parashar with
musicians Parashar had assembled in the studio. For the first time Alex
Lloyd surrendered himself and his songs to others and it showed. The result
'Alex Lloyd' was released in August 2006, Alex the first Australian signing
by the newly combined SonyBMG. Alex Lloyd’s fifth album ‘Good In The Face
of A Stranger’ was released independently.
In 2011
Alex Lloyd toured as the Mad Bastards Trio with Steve and Alan Pigram from Broome
indigenous band The Pigram Brothers after working together on the
soundtrack for the film ‘Mad Bastards’, receiving three APRA Screen Awards nominations.
-Ed.Nimmervoll
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